Foreign relations of the Soviet Union

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After the

. The Soviet forces nearly collapsed as the Germans reached the outskirts of Leningrad and Moscow. However, the Soviet Union proved strong enough to defeat Nazi Germany, with help from its key World War II allies, Britain and the United States. The Soviet army occupied most of Eastern Europe (except Yugoslavia) and increasingly controlled the governments.

In 1945, the USSR became one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council along with the United States, Britain, France, and China, giving it the right to veto any of the Security Council's resolutions (see Soviet Union and the United Nations). By 1947, American and European anger at Soviet military occupation of the Eastern European states led to a Cold War, with Western Europe rebuilt economically with the help of the Marshall Plan from Washington. Opposition to the danger of Soviet expansion formed the basis of the NATO military alliance in 1949. There was no hot war, but the Cold War was fought diplomatically and politically across the world by the Soviet and NATO blocks.

The Kremlin controlled the

(1950–1953). Moscow provided air support but no ground troops; China sent in its large army that eventually stalemated the war. By 1960, disagreements between Beijing and Moscow had escalated out of control, and the two nations became bitter enemies in the contest for control of worldwide communist activities.

Tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States reached an all-time high during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, in which Soviet missiles were placed on the island of Cuba well within range of US territory. This was retrospectively viewed as the closest the world ever came to a nuclear war. After the crisis was resolved, relations with the United States gradually eased into the 1970s, reaching a degree of détente as both Moscow and Beijing sought American favor.

In 1979, a communist government was installed by the USSR in Afghanistan, but was hard-pressed and requested military help from Moscow. The Soviet army intervened to support the regime, but found itself in a major confrontation. The presidency of Ronald Reagan in the United States was marked by opposition to the Soviet Union, and mobilized its allies to support the guerrilla war against the Soviets in Afghanistan. The goal was to create something akin to the Vietnam War, which would drain Soviet forces and morale. When Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985, he sought to restructure the Soviet Union to resemble the Scandinavian model of western social democracy and thus create a private sector economy. He withdrew Soviet troops from Afghanistan in 1989 and began a hands-off approach in the USSR's relations with its Eastern European satellites. This was well received by the United States, but it led to the breakaway of the Eastern European satellites in 1989, and the final collapse and dissolution of the USSR in 1991. The new Russia, under Boris Yeltsin, succeeded the Soviet Union.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs implemented the foreign policies set by Stalin and after his death by the Politburo. Andrei Gromyko served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs for nearly thirty years (1957–1985), being the longest-serving foreign minister in the world.

Ideology and objectives of Soviet foreign policy

According to Soviet

The Soviet commitment in practice to proletarian internationalism declined since the founding of the Soviet state, although this component of ideology still had some effect on later formulation and execution of Soviet foreign policy. Although pragmatic raisons d'état undoubtedly accounted for much of more recent Soviet foreign policy, the ideology of

The general foreign policy goals of the Soviet Union were formalized in a party program ratified by delegates to the

Although these general foreign policy goals were apparently conceived in terms of priorities, the emphasis and ranking of the priorities have changed over time in response to domestic and international stimuli. After Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary of the Communist Party in 1985, for instance, some Western analysts discerned in the ranking of priorities a possible de-emphasis of Soviet support for national liberation movements. Although the emphasis and ranking of priorities were subject to change, two basic goals of Soviet foreign policy remained constant: national security (safeguarding Communist Party rule through internal control and the maintenance of adequate military forces) and, since the late 1940s, influence over Eastern Europe.^[1]

Many Western analysts have examined the way Soviet behavior in various regions and countries supported the general goals of Soviet foreign policy. These analysts have assessed Soviet behavior in the 1970s and 1980s as placing primary emphasis on relations with the United States, which was considered the foremost threat to the national security of the Soviet Union. Second priority was given to relations with Eastern Europe (the other members of the Warsaw Pact) and Western Europe (the European members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization). Third priority was given to the littoral or propinquitous states along the southern border of the Soviet Union: Turkey (a NATO member), Iran, Afghanistan, China, Mongolia, North Korea, and Japan. Regions near to, but not bordering, the Soviet Union were assigned fourth priority. These included the greater Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Last priority was given to sub-Saharan Africa, Oceania, and Latin America, except insofar as these regions either provided opportunities for strategic basing or bordered on strategic naval straits or sea lanes. In general, Soviet foreign policy was most concerned with superpower relations (and, more broadly, relations between the members of NATO and the Warsaw Pact), but during the 1980s Soviet leaders pursued improved relations with all regions of the world as part of its foreign policy objectives.^[1]

Commissars and ministers

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs—called "Narkomindel" until 1949—drafted policy papers for the approval of Stalin and the Politburo, and then sent their orders out to the Soviet embassies. The following persons headed the Commissariat/Ministry as commissars (narkoms), ministers, and deputy ministers during the Soviet era:

Name	Portrait	Took office	Left office	Tenure	Cabinet
People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the RSFSR
Leon Trotsky		8 November 1917	9 April 1918	152 days	Lenin I
Georgy Chicherin		9 April 1918	6 July 1923	5 years, 88 days	Lenin I
People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR
Georgy Chicherin		6 July 1923	21 July 1930	7 years, 15 days	Lenin II–Rykov I
Maxim Litvinov		21 July 1930	3 May 1939	8 years, 286 days	Molotov I
Vyacheslav Molotov		3 May 1939	15 March 1946	6 years, 305 days	Molotov I–Stalin I
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR
Vyacheslav Molotov		19 March 1946	4 March 1949	2 years, 350 days	Stalin II
Andrey Vyshinsky		4 March 1949	5 March 1953	4 years, 1 day	Stalin II–Malenkov I
Vyacheslav Molotov		5 March 1953	1 June 1956	3 years, 88 days	Malenkov I–Bulganin I
Dmitri Shepilov		1 June 1956	15 February 1957	259 days	Bulganin I
Andrei Gromyko		15 February 1957	2 July 1985	28 years, 137 days	Tikhonov II
Eduard Shevardnadze		2 July 1985	15 January 1991	5 years, 197 days	Tikhonov II–Pavlov I
Alexander Bessmertnykh		15 January 1991	23 August 1991	220 days	Pavlov I
Boris Pankin		28 August 1991	14 November 1991	78 days	Silayev I
Minister of External Relations of the USSR
Eduard Shevardnadze		19 November 1991	25 December 1991	36 days	Silayev I

1917–1939

There were three distinct phases in Soviet foreign policy between the conclusion of the

in 1939, determined in part by political struggles within the USSR, and in part by dynamic developments in international relations and the effect these had on Soviet security.

Lenin, once in power, believed the October Revolution would ignite the world's socialists and lead to a "World Revolution." Lenin set up the Communist International (Comintern) to export revolution to the rest of Europe and Asia. Indeed, Lenin set out to "liberate" all of Asia from imperialist and capitalist control. The first stage not only was defeated in key attempts, but angered the other powers by its promise to overthrow capitalism.^[2]

World revolution

The Bolsheviks seized power in Russia in the

In 1918, Britain sent in money and some troops to support the anti-Bolshevik White Army, as well as pro-independence anti-Bolshevik movements on the periphery of the former Empire. France, Japan and the United States also sent forces to block German advances. In effect the Allies were assisting the various anti-Bolshevik forces of different nationalities and political leanings. The Russian Civil War saw the uncoordinated resistance to the Bolsheviks from every direction. However, the Bolsheviks, operating a unified command from a central location, defeated all the opposition one by one and took full control of Russia, as well as conquering newly independent countries such as Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The U.S. and France refused to deal with the Soviet regime because of its promise to support revolutions to overthrow governments everywhere. U.S. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby stated:^[5]

It is their [Bolshevik] understanding that the very existence of Bolshevism in Russia, the maintenance of their own rule, depends, and must continue to depend, upon the occurrence of revolutions in all other great civilized nations, including the United States, which will overthrow and destroy their governments and set up Bolshevist rule in their stead. They have made it quite plain that they intend to use every means, including, of course, diplomatic agencies, to promote such revolutionary movements in other countries.^[6]

After Germany was defeated in November 1918 and Soviet Russia won the Civil War, the first priority for Moscow was instigating revolutions across Western Europe, above all Germany. It was the country that Lenin most admired and assumed to be most ready for revolution.

Independent revolutions had failed to overthrow capitalism. Moscow pulled back from military action and set up the Comintern, designed to foster local communist parties under Kremlin control.^[9]

American relief and Russian famine of 1921

Under

At its peak, the ARA employed 300 Americans, more than 120,000 Russians and fed 10.5 million people daily. Its Russian operations were headed by Col.

The ARA's operations in Russia were shut down on June 15, 1923, after it was discovered that Russia under Lenin renewed the export of grain.^[14]

Success in Central Asia and the Caucasus

Lenin's plans failed, although Russia did manage to conquer the Central Asian and Caucasian domains that had been part of the

The Soviet Union finalized a treaty of friendship with

Communist International

The Communist International (Comintern), (1919–1943), was an international organization of

Stalin: Socialism in one country

Trotsky argued for the continuation of the revolutionary process, in terms of his theory of permanent revolution. After Lenin's death in 1924, Trotsky lost the power struggle to Stalin and Nikolai Bukharin. Trotsky was sent into exile in 1929 and in 1940 was assassinated on Stalin's orders.^[25]

Stalin's main policy was socialism in one country. He focused on modernization of the Soviet Union, developing manufacturing, building infrastructure and improving agriculture. Expansion and wars were no longer on the agenda. The Kremlin-sponsored united front policy, with foreign Communist parties taking the lead in education and national liberation movements. The goal was opposition to fascism, especially the Nazi variety.

The high point of the United Front was the partnership in China between the Chinese Communist Party and the nationalist Kuomintang. The United Front policy in China effectively crashed to ruin in 1927, when Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek massacred the native Communists and expelled all of his Soviet advisors, notably Mikhail Borodin.^[26][27] A short war erupted in 1929 as the Soviets successfully fought to keep control of the Chinese Eastern Railway in Manchuria.^[28]

After defeating all his opponents from both the left (led by Trotsky and

Respectability and normal relations

After 1921 the main foreign-policy goals were for the

The League made several efforts to develop better relations with Russia, but these attempts were always rebuffed: the Soviets regarded the League as simply an alliance of hostile, capitalist powers.

Soviet invasion of Finland

.

Rapallo Treaty 1922

The

Great Britain

Trade and recognition

At the direction of the Comintern, by 1937, 10% of Communist Party of Great Britain members were operating secretly inside the British Labour Party, campaigning to change its policy on affiliation and to engineer a Popular Front.^[38] The Labour leadership fought back and became bitter enemies of Communism. When Labour came to power in the 1945 UK general election, it was increasingly hostile to the Soviet Union and supported the United States.^[39]

Zinoviev letter

Four days before the

]

United States

In the 1920s, the

President Franklin Roosevelt recognized the USSR in 1933, in the expectation that trade would soar and help the US out of its economic depression. That goal did not materialize, but Roosevelt maintained good relations with Moscow until his death in 1945.^[45][46]

Attack social democratic parties

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Stalin insisted on a policy of fighting against non-communist socialist movements everywhere. This new radical phase was paralleled by the formulation of a new doctrine in the International, that of the so-called Third Period, an ultra-left switch in policy, which argued that social democracy, whatever shape it took, was a form of social fascism, socialist in theory but fascist in practice. All foreign Communist parties – increasingly agents of Soviet policy – were to concentrate their efforts in a struggle against their rivals in the working-class movement, ignoring the threat of real fascism. There were to be no united fronts against a greater enemy.^[47]

Battling Social Democracy in Germany 1927–1932

In Germany, Stalin gave a high priority to an anti-capitalist revolution in Germany. His

]

In 1929, the KPD's banned public May Day rally in Berlin was broken up by police; 33 people were killed in the clash and subsequent rioting. The RFB was then banned as extremist by the governing Social Democrats.^[54] In 1930, the KPD established the RFB's de facto successor, known as Kampfbund gegen den Faschismus [de] ("Fighting Alliance against Fascism").^{[55][56][57][58][59][60][54]} In late 1931, local Roter Massenselbstschutz ("Red Mass Self-Defence") units were formed by Kampfbund members as autonomous and loosely organized structures under the leadership of, but outside the formal organization of the KPD as part of the party's united front policy to work with other working class groups to defeat "fascism" as interpreted by the party.^[61]

During the Third Period, the KPD viewed the Nazi Party ambiguously. On one hand, the KPD considered the Nazi Party to be one of the fascist parties. On the other hand, the KPD sought to appeal to the

The formation of Antifaschistische Aktion in 1932 indicated a shift away from the Third Period policies, as fascism came to be recognised as a more serious threat (the two red flags on its logo symbolized Communists in unity with socialists^[65]), leading up to the 1934 and 1935 adoption of a popular front policy of anti-fascist unity with non-Communist groups. In October 1931, a coalition of right-wing and far-right parties established the Harzburg Front, which opposed the government of the Centre Party's Heinrich Brüning. In response, the SPD and affiliated group established the Iron Front to defend liberal democracy and the constitution of the Weimar Republic. Antifaschistische Aktion was formed partly as a counter-move to the SPD's establishment of the Iron Front,^[54] which the KPD regarded as a "social fascist terror organisation."^[66] However, from the mid-1930s, the term anti-fascist became ubiquitous in Soviet, Comintern, and KPD usage, as Communists who had been attacking democratic rivals were now told to change tack and engage in coalitions with them against the fascist threat.^[67][68]

According to George Stein, a secret major military collaboration between Russia and Germany began in the early 1920s. Both sides benefitted from operational activities at the bases of Lipetsk, Kazan, and Torski. When Hitler and his Nazis came to power in 1933, the collaboration ended because Stalin feared the dangerous expansionist policy of the Nazis and neither he nor Hitler would risk further cooperation. Instead Stalin ordered Germans to cooperate with the SPD, but Hitler quickly suppressed both.^[69] With the KPD destroyed, a few leaders managed to escape into exile in Moscow, some of whom would executed and others become leaders of East Germany in 1945. Simultaneously in Germany, the Nazis completely destroyed the SPD, imprisoning its leaders or forcing them into exile as well.^[35][70]

Popular Fronts 1933–1939

Communists and parties on the left were increasingly threatened by the growth of the Nazi movement. Hitler came to power in January 1933 and rapidly consolidated his control over Germany, destroyed the communist and socialist movements in Germany, and rejected the restraints imposed by the Versailles treaty. Stalin in 1934 reversed his decision in 1928 to attack socialists, and introduced his new plan: the "popular front." It was a coalition of anti-fascist parties usually organized by the local communists acting under instructions from the Comintern.^[71] The new policy was to work with all parties on the left and center in a multiparty coalition against fascism and Nazi Germany in particular. The new slogan was: "The People's Front Against Fascism and War". Under this policy, Communist Parties were instructed to form broad alliances with all anti-fascist parties with the aim of both securing social advance at home and a military alliance with the USSR to isolate the fascist dictatorships.^[72] The "Popular Fronts" thus formed proved to be successful in only a few countries, and only for a few years each, forming the government in France, Chile and Spain, and also China.^[73] It was not a political success elsewhere. The Popular Front approach played a major role in Resistance movements in France and other countries conquered by Germany after 1939. After the war it played a major role in French and Italian politics.^[74]

Hand-in-hand with the promotion of Popular Fronts,

.

Ignoring the agreement it signed to avoid involvement in the Spanish Civil War, the USSR sent arms and troops and organized volunteers to fight for the republican government. Communist forces systematically killed their old enemies the Spanish anarchists, even though they were on the same Republican side.^[75] The Spanish government sent its entire treasury to Moscow for safekeeping, but it was never returned.^[76]

The Munich Agreement of 1938, the first stage in the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia, gave rise to Soviet fears that they were likely to be abandoned in a possible war with Germany.^[77]

In the face of continually dragging and seemingly hopeless negotiations with Britain and France, a new cynicism and hardness entered Soviet foreign relations when Litvinov was replaced by Vyacheslav Molotov in May 1939.

Alliance with France

By 1935, Moscow and Paris identified

The Treaty marked a large scale shift in Soviet policy in the Comintern from a pro-revisionist stance against the

The Soviet Union was not invited to the critical Munich conference in late September 1938, where Britain, France, and Italy appeased Hitler by giving in to his demands to take over the Sudetenland, a largely German-speaking area of Western Czechoslovakia. Distrust was high in all directions. Leaders in London and Paris felt that Stalin wanted to see a major war between the capitalist nations Germany on the one hand, and Britain and France on the other, in order to advance the prospects of a working-class revolution in Europe. Meanwhile, Stalin felt the Western Powers were plotting to embroil Germany and Russia in war in order to preserve bourgeois capitalism.^[81] After Hitler took over all of Czechoslovakia in 1939, proving appeasement was a disaster, Britain and France tried to involve the Soviet Union and a real military alliance. Their attempts were futile because Poland refused to allow any Soviet troops on its soil.^[82][83]

Diplomats purged

In 1937–1938, Stalin took total personal control of the party, by purging and executing tens of thousands of high-level and mid-level party officials, especially the

Non-Aggression Pact with Germany (1939–1941)

In 1938–1939, the Soviet Union attempted to form strong military alliances with Germany's enemies, including Poland, France, and Great Britain, but they all refused. In an effort to build up the Soviet military, Stalin made a non-aggression pact with Hitler, along with a secret protocol, and the two countries invaded and partitioned Poland. The Soviet Union additionally invaded and annexed the Baltic states, as well as attacking Finland in the Winter War, for which the USSR was expelled from the League of Nations.^[85][86] Soon after the pact, Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939. Stalin's invasion of Bukovina in 1940 violated the pact since it went beyond the Soviet sphere of influence that had been agreed with the Axis.^[87] The German-Soviet pact provided for large sales of Russian grain and oil to Germany, while Germany would share its military technology with the Soviet Union.^[88] The ensuing Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact astonished the world and signaled the war would start very soon. French historian François Furet says, "The pact signed in Moscow by Ribbentrop and Molotov on 23 August 1939 inaugurated the alliance between the USSR and Nazi Germany. It was presented as an alliance and not just a nonaggression pact." Other historians dispute the characterization of this treaty as an "alliance," because Hitler secretly intended to invade the USSR in the future.^[89]

World War II

Stalin controlled the foreign policy of the Soviet Union, with

Cold War (1947–1991)

Europe

The Soviet Union emerged from World War II devastated in human and economic terms, but much enlarged in area. Militarily it was one of the two major world powers, a position maintained for four decades through its hegemony in Eastern Europe, military strength, involvement in many countries through local Communist parties, and scientific research especially into arms, weaponry and space technology. The USSR's effort to extend its influence or control over many states and peoples resulted in significant resistance from the West. Established in 1949 as an economic bloc of communist countries led by Moscow, the

.

The Soviet Union concentrated on its own recovery. It seized and transferred most of Germany's industrial plants and it exacted war reparations from East Germany, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria, using Soviet-dominated joint enterprises. It used trading arrangements deliberately designed to favor the Soviet Union. Moscow controlled the Communist parties that ruled the satellite states, and they followed orders from the Kremlin. Historian Mark Kramer concludes:

The net outflow of resources from eastern Europe to the Soviet Union was approximately $15 billion to $20 billion in the first decade after World War II, an amount roughly equal to the total aid provided by the United States to western Europe under the Marshall Plan.^[95]

Moscow considered Eastern Europe to be a buffer zone for the forward defense of its western borders and ensured its control of the region by transforming the East European countries into subservient allies. In 1956, Soviet troops crushed a popular uprising in Hungary and acted again in 1968 to end the Czechoslovak government's Prague Spring attempts at reform. Both countries were members of the Warsaw Pact: In addition to military occupation and intervention, the Soviet Union controlled Eastern European states through its ability to supply or withhold vital natural resources.

Espionage

All sides in the Cold War engaged in espionage. The Soviet KGB ("Committee for State Security"), the bureau responsible for foreign espionage and internal surveillance, was famous for its effectiveness. The most famous Soviet operation involved its atomic spies that delivered crucial information from the United States' Manhattan Project, leading the USSR to detonate its first nuclear weapon in 1949, four years after the American detonation and much sooner than expected.^[96][97] A massive network of informants throughout the Soviet Union was used to monitor dissent from official Soviet politics and morals.^[98][99]

Historian Raymond L. Garthoff concludes there probably was parity in the quantity and quality of secret information obtained by each side. The Soviets probably had an advantage in terms of HUMINT (espionage) and "sometimes in its reach into high policy circles." Did it matter? In terms of decisive impact Garthoff concludes:

We also can now have high confidence in the judgment that there were no successful “moles” at the political decision-making level on either side. Similarly, there is no evidence, on either side, of any major political or military decision that was prematurely discovered through espionage and thwarted by the other side. There also is no evidence of any major political or military decision that was crucially influenced (much less generated) by an agent of the other side.^[100]

In terms of the impact of intelligence on national policy it was not so much the minute details, or capture of top-secret plans that mattered most. Instead, every major country used its intelligence services to develop complex images of their adversaries, and to predict to the top leadership what they would do next.^[101]

The USSR and

Sub-Saharan Africa

Stalin made Africa a very low priority, and discouraged relationships or studies of the continent. However, the decolonization process of the 1950s and early 1960s opened new opportunities, which Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was eager to exploit.

The Kremlin developed four major long-term policy goals:

• to gain a lasting presence on the continent,
• to gain a voice in African affairs,
• to undermine Western/NATO influence, especially by identifying capitalism with Western imperialism,
• and, after 1962, it fought hard to prevent the People's Republic of China from developing its own countervailing presence.

At no time was Moscow willing to engage in combat in Africa, although its ally Cuba did so. Indeed, the Kremlin at first assumed that the Russian model of socialized development would prove attractive to Africans eager to modernize. That did not happen, and instead, the Soviets emphasized identifying likely allies and giving them financial aid and munitions, as well as credits to purchase from the Soviet bloc. Although some countries became allies for a while, including Angola, Somalia, and Ethiopia, the connections proved temporary. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russian influence greatly diminished.^[103]

Middle East and North Africa

Relations with Israel

The first source of tension in relations between Israel and the Soviet Union occurred on February 9, 1953 (four weeks before the death of

After the

On February 2, 1958[105] Egypt and Syria declared the establishment of a common federation: the United Arab Republic.^[104] The destruction of Israel was their main goal. In 1955, the USSR made an arms deal with Egypt.^[106] This angered Israel. While Britain sided with the US and agreed to withhold further funding for the construction of Egypt's Aswan Dam in July 1956, Britain was also furious at the action and believed that America's withdrawal of aid had provided the opening for Soviet penetration of Egypt.^[107] Both Britain and Israel now saw Egypt as a threat to regional stability.

The Suez Crisis occurred in the second half of 1956. At this time, Britain, France and Israel invaded Egypt, claiming that they were protecting the Suez Canal.^[107] The USSR saw this event as a threat to its security and international prestige by the West.^[106] Britain and France lost prestige when the United States opposed the invasion and forced a withdrawal. The Suez Crisis was the first clash between Israel's security interests and the strategic interests of the USSR in the Middle East.^[106]

On June 5, 1967, the Six-Day War commenced.^[108] Immediately, the Soviet Union went to the United Nations to stop the war and remove Israeli forces from the border. The USSR threatened to break off relations with Israel. The USSR never wanted a war to occur in the Middle East. By June 10, the Soviet Union threatened to intervene militarily if Israel did not stop its advance towards Syria.^[108]

In March 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev became the Secretary General of the CPSU and in April he declared Perestroika. It took more than 6 years before Moscow consented to restore diplomatic relations with Israel on October 19, 1991, just 2 months prior to the collapse of the USSR.

Six-Day War against Israel

On June 5, 1967, the Six-Day War began. During the war, the United Arab Republic asked the Soviet Union for more arms, but the Soviet Union denied its request because it wanted the war to end. The war ended in the defeat of the UAR and Syria on June 10. Once the war was over, though, the Soviet Union was satisfied with the state of the Middle East and gave weapons to the Arabs in order to repair relations with them. For the Soviet Union, defeat meant that its position in the Middle East was impaired and its weapons and military training were given a poor reputation.^[108] Following this loss, Gamal Abdel Nasser agreed to allow the Soviets to keep military bases in the country.^[109]

Egypt

In 1955, Egypt made an arms deal with Czechoslovakia.^[106] This was technically a deal between Egypt and the Soviet Union because Czechoslovakia had Soviet arms. At this point, Egypt was neutral towards the Soviet Union and made the deal to manipulate the United States into giving it financial aid. The arms deal was the Soviet Union's first step in creating relations with Arab states and gaining a foothold in the Middle East for expansion and domination.^[106]

US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles was deeply suspicious of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, whom he believed to be a reckless and dangerous nationalist.^[107] Following Egypt's arms deal with Czechoslovakia, however, others in the Eisenhower administration convinced Dulles that the American aid might pull Nasser back from his relationship with the Soviet Union and prevent the growth of Soviet power in the Middle East.^[107] In December 1955, Secretary Dulles announced that the United States, together with Great Britain, was providing nearly $75 million in foreign aid to Egypt to help in the construction of the Aswan Dam on the Nile River.^[107] In response to Nasser's increasing attacks on Western colonialism and imperialism and Egypt's continued alliance with the Soviet Union,^[107] Britain and the United States withdrew funds for the Aswan Dam in July 1956.^[107] That action drove Egypt further toward an alliance with the Soviet Union and was a contributing factor to the Suez Crisis later in 1956.^[107] Nasser responded to the aid cut by nationalizing the Suez Canal and the Soviets then rushed to Egypt's aid;^[107] the Aswan Dam was officially opened in 1964.^[107]

During the 1956 Suez Crisis, the Soviet Union sided with Egypt. The USSR viewed the nationalization of the Suez Canal as important to the removal of Western influence from within the Middle East.

in 1961; though the union with Syria collapsed in 1961, Egypt would still be officially known as the United Arab Republic for a while longer.

Egypt and Israel

By 1969, Nasser had formed an alliance with Jordan's

PLO

In 1964, Nasser and other Arab League in Cairo Summit 1964 initiated the creation of the Palestine Liberation Organization to represent the Palestinian people.^[112] Despite establishing ties with the new organization, the Soviet government also feared the PLO would weaken their influence in the Arab region and reacted with skepticism towards the group's leadership.^[113] Following the Six-Day War, however, Soviet influence would further increase in the Arab region and PLO would follow suit.^[113] In March 1968, Yasser Arafat and his Fatah organization gained international attention and popularity in the Arab region when it engaged in a full-scale battle with the Israel Defense Force at the city of Karameh in Jordan, in which 150 Palestinians and 29 Israelis were killed.^[114] Two months later, Fatah would join the PLO and Arafat was appointed as the organization's Chairman.^[114] Under Arafat's leadership, favoritism towards the USSR was firmly established within the ranks of the PLO and the organization would frequently buy Eastern Bloc military equipment to carry out sporadic terrorist attacks against Israel.^[113]

In 1972, the Soviets declared the PLO the vanguard of the Arab liberation movement.

Syria

In 1966, the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region gained power in a coup d'état and intended to cooperate with the USSR.^[118] The Soviet Union was willing to take every effort to guarantee stability of the new regime in Syria in order to have support from a Communist regime in the Middle East. Once this regime gained power, the USSR's activity in the Middle East intensified. The USSR encouraged the new Syrian regime and admonished Israel. The USSR wished to gain more dominance in the Middle East, so it aggravated the Arab–Israeli conflict. However, the Soviet Union did not want a war, so it acted to pacify Israel's policy towards Syria. The USSR desired to be the sole defender of the Arab world, and so did everything in its power to increase the Arab states' dependence.^[118]

On April 7, 1967, Syria executed terrorist attacks on Israel. The attacks were directed at an Israeli tractor working land in the demilitarized area on the

Syria after 1966

Since 1966,[118] Syria had obtained most of its military equipment from the Soviet Union.^[119] In 1971, when Syrian Air Force Commander Hafez al-Assad became President of Syria by way of a coup, he elected to maintain a strategic policy of close cooperation with the Soviet Union.^[120] The same year, Assad agreed to allow Soviet military personnel to keep a naval base in Tartus. In February 1972, Syria signed a peace and security pact with the Soviet Union as a means to strengthen its defense capability.^[120] During the year, Moscow delivered more than $135 million in Soviet arms to Damascus.^[120] In 1980, Syria signed a Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with the Soviet Union.^[119]

A secret protocol to the treaty reputedly detailed Soviet military obligations to Syria and gave the USSR to power to mandate the dispatch of Soviet troops to Syria in case of an Israeli invasion.^[119] Syrian defense minister Mustafa Tlass warned in 1984 that the Soviet Union would dispatch two Soviet airborne divisions to Syria within eight hours in the event of a conflict with Israel.^[119] Tlas's has also stated that the Soviet Union would use nuclear weapons to protect Syria.^[119] Tlas's statements, however, were not endorsed by the Soviet Union.^[119] Syrian–Soviet nuclear cooperation was limited to a February 1983 agreement for cooperation and exchange for peaceful purposes.^[119] In addition to the PLO, Syria and Iraq, the Soviet Union also developed good relations with Libya, the Yemen Arab Republic, and South Yemen.

Iraq

Between 1958 and 1990, Soviet–Iraqi relations were very strong.

Yemen

The Soviet Union was among the first group of nations to recognize North Yemen following its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1918. On December 27, 1962, two treaties were concluded between the two countries, for setting up a study for economic projects and using soil and ground waters.[125] In 1963, the Soviet government appointed the first ambassador to the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR) in Sana'a.^[125] In September 1963, Russians finished constructing Arrahaba International Airport.^[125] On March 21, 1964, President of YAR Abdullah Assalal paid the first visit to Moscow.^[125] The visit resulted in signing a friendship treaty between the two countries in addition to conducting economic and military relations.^[125]

In 1967, the Soviet Union immediately recognized South Yemen after it gained independence from Britain.^[125] In 1969, South Yemen became the first and only avowedly Communist nation in the Middle East. Unaccepted by Muslim nations in the region, South Yemen relied on aid from Communist nations and allowed the Soviets to keep naval bases in the country. In 1972, after a war broke out between the two neighboring Yemen states,^[126] the Yemen Arab Republic and South Yemen agreed to eventually unify. In October 1979,^[127] the Soviet Union and South Yemen officially signed a Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation.^[128] Despite the aid it now received from the United States following a brief spat with South Yemen between 1978 and 1979,^[127] the Yemen Arab Republic would not break with the Soviets^[127] and later renewed its Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with the USSR in October 1984.^[128]

Libya

Although Libya was not as firm a Soviet ally as many Third World Marxist regimes were, Moscow developed close ties with the anti-Western regime of Muammar Gaddafi, who had overthrown Libya's pro-Western monarchy in 1969.^[129] The number-two Soviet leader at that time, Alexei Kosygin, went to Libya in 1975, and Gaddafi visited Moscow in 1976, 1981 and 1985. Soviet-Libyan trade volume during the 1970s and 1980s was approximately $100 million per year^[129] and relations between the two accelerated between the years 1981 and 1982.^[130] During this period, Moscow also supplied $4.6 billion in weaponry to Libya, providing about 90 percent of that country's arms inventory,^[129] and the Gaddafi regime assisted the Soviet Union by playing a key role in preserving the Communist regimes in both Angola^[131] and Ethiopia.^[132] According to Kommersant, "Libya was one of the Soviet Union's few partners that paid in full for the military equipment it purchased from the USSR,"^[129] though the Gaddafi regime still maintained good relations with the Western nations of France and Italy and refused to sign a Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with the Soviet Union.^[130] Libya, however, did run up a debt to Moscow during those years.^[129]

Throughout much of the Cold War, Syria and Iraq were each ruled by rival fractions of the pan-Arab

Contradictions

In December 1979, relations between the Soviet Union and Iraq, though still very strong in private,[124] soured greatly in public when Iraq condemned the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.^[124] After Iraq invaded Iran in September 1980, the Soviet Union, hoping to make Iran a new ally, cut off arms shipments to Iraq (and to Iran) as part of its efforts to induce a cease-fire.^[124] However, it also allowed Syria to continue to back Iran and ship Libyan and Eastern Bloc weapons to the country as well.^[135] While Khomeini was strongly anti-American and had demonstrated this sentiment by calling United States "the Great Satan" and taking US embassy workers hostage, he also strongly opposed the Soviet Union, labeling the communist belief a threat to Islam; and efforts by the Soviets to make Iran an ally further soured when Khomeini openly declared support the Afghan mujahideen during the Soviet–Afghan War and refused to crack down on pro-Afghan protesters who consistently attacked the USSR embassy in Tehran.^[136] In 1982, when it became clear that Iran would not align with the USSR after the Khomeini regime gained the upper hand in the Iran–Iraq War and invaded Iraqi territory,^[124] the Soviets resumed regular arm shipments to Iraq,^[124] but relations between the two nations were still politically strained and would not become strong in public again until early 1988.^[124]

After 1966, a large Soviet military presence developed in Syria.

The Soviet Union's foreign policy in the Middle East was contradictory. While the USSR first supported Israel, this relationship soon disintegrated as the Soviet Union felt threatened by Israel's need for security from the United States. The USSR turned to other Arab states in order to gain influence in the Arab world and to eliminate Western influence. The USSR viewed the Arab states as more important than Israel because they could help the USSR achieve its goal of spreading Communist influence. The USSR chose to support Egypt and Syria with arms in order to demonstrate its domination. The Soviet Union manipulated the Arab states against Israel in order to increase their dependence on the Soviet Union and to discourage Western powers from assisting Israel.[138]^[139]

Americas

Cuba

After the establishment of diplomatic ties with the

.

Grenada

Diplomatic relations between Grenada and the Soviet Union were severed in November 1983 by the Governor General of Grenada. Eventually in 2002, Grenada re-established diplomatic relations with the newly formed Russian Federation.^[140]

United States

Through even the toughest and most stagnant parts of the Cold War, diplomatic relations were still kept and even sought after between the United States and the Soviet Union. Whether for peace-making reasons or for negotiations, these agreements played a vital role in the Cold War.

Space Race

Between the years 1957 and 1958, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sought cooperative U.S.-Soviet space initiatives through a series of letters directed at Soviet leadership. These Soviet recipients included First Secretary of the Communist Party Nikita Khrushchev and Chairman of the Council of Ministers Nikolai Bulganin. In these letters, Eisenhower suggested a protocol for peaceful space use. However, Khrushchev rejected the offer, feeling that his country was ahead of the United States in space-related technology after the successful launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957.^[141]

Despite the continued space competition between the United States and U.S.S.R., Khrushchev wrote a letter to U.S. president John F. Kennedy detailing the possibility of future space cooperation between the two sworn rivals after American John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth on February 20, 1962. These discussions between the Soviet Union and the United States led to cooperation in three areas: weather data and future meteorology-related launches, the mapping of the geomagnetic field of the Earth, and the relay of communication.^[142]

The reaction to the United States landing the first humans on the Moon in the Soviet Union was mixed. The Soviet government limited the release of information about the lunar landing, which affected the reaction. A portion of the populace did not give it any attention, and another portion was angered by it.^[143]

India

The relationship between the Soviet Union and India was a significant part of the Cold War. Both political and scientific in nature, this cooperation lasted for nearly 40 years. Over this span of nearly four decades, Soviet-Indian relations maintained through three pairs of leaders—Jawaharlal Nehru and Nikita Khrushchev, Indira Gandhi and Leonid Brezhnev, and Rajiv Gandhi and Mikhail Gorbachev.^[144] This Indo-Soviet relationship can be seen being stemmed from India's distrust and general unsatisfactory feeling towards Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration's insistence that Third World countries could not remain neutral during the Cold War and with American hesitation to consult with their governments on issues pertinent to these countries.^[145]

India's pro-Soviet stance was professed when the government of Indira Gandhi broke with the rest of the non-communist world to embrace and support the

Space Cooperation

Scientific cooperation between the Soviet Union and India began with the formal establishment of an Indo-Soviet Joint Committee of Scientists, which held its first meeting in January 1968.[54]

The Soviet Union was a major contributor to India's space effort. Most notably, Soviet technical assistance in design and launching was paramount to the success of Indian satellites

When considering India's reputation for poverty and food insecurity at the time, outsiders began to wonder if India belonged to such a prestigious group of nations, or if it was only given the opportunity by the Soviet Union.

Work on

Though the satellite was expected to perform solar and atmospheric studies for 6 months, the experiments had to be closed down after 5 days due to a power supply problem.

On June 7, 1979, Bhaskara-I was launched from Kapustin Yar aboard the C-1 Intercosmos Launch Vehicle.^[54]

On November 20, 1981, Bhaskara-II was launched, providing nearly two thousand photos for ocean and land surface data.^[54]

In April 1985, the Indian National Science Academy and the Soviet Academy of Sciences signed an agreement for joint research in applied mathematics and technology such as computer electronics, biotechnology, and silicon technology. On March 21, 1987, following Rajiv Gandhi's visit to the Soviet Union, a protocol for cooperation in science and technology were signed, leading to new initiatives in laser technology, alternative energy sources, and electron accelerators.^[54]

Break with China

The Sino-Soviet split (1956–1966) was the breaking of political relations between the

Beginning in 1956, after

The Sino-Soviet split transformed the geopolitics of the bi-polar cold war into a tri-polar cold war, and facilitated Sino-American rapprochement and the

tri-polar geopolitics

(PRC-USA-USSR) of the late-period Cold War.

Historian Lorenz M. Lüthi said:

The Sino–Soviet split was one of the key events of the Cold War, equal in importance to the construction of the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Second Vietnam War, and Sino-American Rapprochement. The split helped to determine the framework of the second half of the Cold War in general, and influenced the course of the Second Vietnam War, in particular. Like a nasty divorce, it left bad memories and produced myths of innocence on both sides.[152]

Relations with Southeast Asian states

.

The 1970s onwards

In the 1970s, the Soviet Union achieved rough nuclear parity with the United States, and surpassed it by the end of that decade with the deployment of the

).

communiqué on the SALT

treaty.

Elsewhere the Soviet Union had concluded friendship and cooperation treaties with a number of states in the non-communist world, especially among Third World and Non-Aligned Movement states. Notwithstanding some ideological obstacles, Moscow advanced state interests by gaining military footholds in strategically important areas throughout the Third World. Furthermore, the USSR continued to provide military aid for revolutionary movements in the Third World. For all these reasons, Soviet foreign policy was of major importance to the non-communist world and helped determine the tenor of international relations.

Although myriad bureaucracies were involved in the formation and execution of Soviet foreign policy, the major policy guidelines were determined by the Politburo of the

. The foremost objectives of Soviet foreign policy had been the maintenance and enhancement of national security and the maintenance of hegemony over Eastern Europe. Relations with the United States and Western Europe were also of major concern to Soviet foreign policy makers and, much as with the United States, relations with individual Third World states were at least partly determined by the proximity of each state to the border and to estimates of strategic significance.

Gorbachev and after

When

, signed strategic arms reduction treaties with the United States. It did not attempt to stop the successful effort of all the East European satellite nations to declare their independence and expel the Soviet Union-dominated leadership, issues about the status and borders of Germany were addressed in 1990, when the Soviet Union, along with the United States, Britain and France, signed a treaty on German reunification with the two German governments. After extensive negotiations, West Germany absorbed East Germany, with large cash payments made to Moscow. After the final dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 26, 1991, Russia became the legal successor to the Soviet Union on the international stage, and in terms of treaties and agreements. Under Boris Yeltsin, Russian foreign policy solicited Western support for capitalist reforms in post-Soviet Russia.

See also

• Foreign relations of Russia
• History of the Soviet Union
• History of Sino-Russian relations
  • Sino-Soviet split
• Soviet Union § Foreign relations
• Soviet Union–United States relations
• Foreign relations of Nazi Germany, 1933-1941
• Diplomatic history of World War II
• Ministry of External Relations

• Bibliography of the Russian Revolution and Civil War § Foreign policy
• Bibliography of the Russian Revolution and Civil War § International involvement in the Revolution and Civil War
• Bibliography of Stalinism and the Soviet Union § Foreign policy and external relations
• Bibliography of the Post Stalinist Soviet Union § Foreign policy
• Dates of establishment of diplomatic relations with the USSR

Notes

Further reading

• Bellamy, Chris. Absolute War: Soviet Russia in the Second World War (2008), 880pp excerpt and text search
• Beloff, Max. The Foreign Policy of Soviet Russia: 1929–1941 (1949) online.
• Butler, Susan. Roosevelt and Stalin (2015) excerpt
• Carley, Michael Jabara (2000). "Episodes from the Early Cold War: Franco-Soviet Relations, 1917–1927". Europe-Asia Studies. 52 (7): 1275–1305.
  S2CID 154700868
  .
• Crozier, Brian. The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Empire (1999), long detailed popular history
• Dallin, David J. Soviet Russia and the Far East (1949) online on China and Japan
• Feis, Herbert. Churchill Roosevelt Stalin: The War They Waged and the Peace They Sought: A Diplomatic History of World War II (1957), by a senior official of the U.S. State Department online
• Fischer, Louis. Russia's Road from Peace to War: Soviet Foreign Relations 1917–1941 (1969) Online ; replaces previous histories by Fisher.
• Gaddis, John Lewis, ed. Russia, Soviet Union & the United States: an Interpretive History (1978)
• Herring Jr., George C. Aid to Russia, 1941–1946: Strategy, Diplomacy, the Origins of the Cold War (1973)
• Jacobson, Jon. When the Soviet Union Entered World Politics (1994), on 1920s online
• Jelavich, Barbara. St. Petersburg and Moscow: Czarist and Soviet Foreign Policy, 1814–1974 (1974), scholarly survey online
• Keeble, Curtis. Britain and the Soviet Union, 1917–89 (1990).
• Kennan, George F. Russia and the West under Lenin and Stalin (1961)
• Kershaw, Ian, and Moshe Lewin. Stalinism and Nazism: Dictatorships in Comparison (2004) excerpt and text search
• Korbel, Josef. Poland Between East and West: Soviet and German Diplomacy toward Poland, 1919–1933 (Princeton University Press, 1963) online
• Kotkin, Stephen. Stalin: Paradoxes of Power, 1878–1928 (2014), v 1 of major biography
  • Kotkin, Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929–1941 (2017), v 2 of major biography
• Librach, Jan. The Rise of the Soviet Empire: A Study of Soviet Foreign Policy (Praeger, 1965) online, a scholarly history
• McKenzie, David. From Messianism to Collapse: Soviet Foreign Policy 1917–1991 (1994), university textbook.
• McNeill, William Hardy. America, Britain, and Russia: their co-operation and conflict, 1941–1946 (1953)
• Materski, Wojciech. "The Second Polish Republic in Soviet Foreign Policy (1918–1939)." Polish Review 45.3 (2000): 331–345. online
• Moore, Harriet L. Soviet Far Eastern Policy, 1931–1945 (Princeton UP, 1945). online
• Munting, Roger (1984). "Lend-Lease and the Soviet War Effort". Journal of Contemporary History. 19 (3): 495–510.
  S2CID 159466422
  .
• Nekrich, Aleksandr Moiseevich. Pariahs, partners, predators: German-Soviet relations, 1922-1941 (Columbia University Press, 1997).
• Neilson, Keith. Britain, Soviet Russia and the collapse of the Versailles order, 1919–1939 (Cambridge UP, 2005) excerpt Archived 26 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine.
• Overy, Richard. The road to war (2009) pp 245-300 for 1930s. online

• Quested, Rosemary K.I. Sino-Russian relations: a short history (Routledge, 2014) online
• Roberts, Geoffrey. The Soviet Union and the Origins of the Second World War (Palgrave, 1995) The Soviet Union and the Origins of the Second World War: Russo-German Relations and the Road to War, 1933–1941
• Rubinstein, Alvin Z. Soviet foreign policy since World War II (1989) online
• Service, Robert. Comrades! A history of world communism (2007).
• Service, Robert. Stalin: A Biography (2004) online
• Service, Robert. Lenin: A biography (2000) online * Service, Robert. A history of Twentieth-century Russia (1997) online borrow
• Shen, Zhihua, ed. A Short History of Sino-Soviet Relations, 1917–1991 (Springer Singapore;Palgrave Macmillan, 2020)
• Ulam, Adam B. Expansion and Coexistence: Soviet Foreign Policy, 1917–1973, 2nd ed. (1974), a standard scholarly history online
• Ulam, Adam B. Stalin (1973), a scholarly biography; oonline
• Ulam, Adam B. The Communists: the story of power and lost illusions, 1948–1991 (1992) online
• Weeks, Albert Loren. Russia's Life-Saver: Lend-Lease Aid to the U.S.S.R. in World War II (2004) excerpt and text search
• Wheeler-Bennett, John W. "Twenty Years of Russo-German Relations: 1919–1939" Foreign Affairs 25#1 (1946), pp. 23–43 online

Cold War

Main article:

List of primary and secondary sources on the Cold War

• Dallin, David. Soviet foreign policy after Stalin (1961) online
• Dobbs, Michael. One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War (2008) excerpt and text search
• Donaldson, Robert, and Joseph L. Nogee The Foreign Policy of Russia: Changing Systems, Enduring Interests (4th ed. 2015), emphasis on Putin years
• Fursenko, Aleksandr, and Timothy Naftali. Khrushchev's Cold War: The Inside Story of an American Adversary (2007) excerpt and text search
• Garthoff, Raymond L. Détente and confrontation: American-Soviet relations from Nixon to Reagan (2nd ed. 1994) covers 1969 to 1980. online
• Garthoff, Raymond L. The Great Transition: American-Soviet Relations and the End of the Cold War (1994), In-depth scholarly history, 1981 to 1991.
• Goldgeier, James M. Leadership style and Soviet foreign policy : Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Gorbachev (1994) online
• Goncharov, Sergei, John Lewis and Litai Xue, Uncertain Partners: Stalin, Mao and the Korean War (1993) excerpt and text search
• Haslam, Jonathan. Russia's Cold War: From the October Revolution to the Fall of the Wall (2012)
• Jelavich, Barbara. St.Petersburg and Moscow: Czarist and Soviet Foreign Policy, 1814–1974 (1974), Scholarly survey
• Keeble, Curtis. Britain and the Soviet Union, 1917–89 (1990).
• Kennan, George F. Russia and the West under Lenin and Stalin (1961)
• Leffler, Melvyn P. For the Soul of Mankind: The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War (2008) excerpt and text search
• Librach, Jan. The Rise of the Soviet Empire: A Study of Soviet Foreign Policy (Praeger, 1965) online, a scholarly history
• Lund, Aron. "From cold war to civil war: 75 years of Russian-Syrian relations." (Swedish Institute of International Affairs, 2019) online
• Mastny, Vojtech. Russia's Road to the Cold War: Diplomacy, Warfare, and the Politics of Communism, 1941–1945 (1979)
• Mastny, Vojtech. The Cold War and Soviet Insecurity: The Stalin Years (1998) excerpt and text search
• Mastny, Vojtech, and Malcolm Byrne. A Cardboard Castle? An Inside History of the Warsaw Pact, 1955–1991 (2005)
• Nogee, Joseph L. and Robert Donaldson. Soviet Foreign Policy Since World War II (4th ed. 1992)
• Ouimet, Matthew J. The Rise and Fall of the Brezhnev Doctrine in Soviet Foreign Policy (2003)<
• Roberts, Geoffrey. Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939–1953 (2006).
• Roberts, Geoffrey. Molotov: Stalin's Cold Warrior (2012)
• Saivetz, Carol R. and Sylvia Babus Woodby, eds. Soviet-third World Relations (1985)
• Schulz, Brigitte and William W. Hansen, eds. The Soviet Bloc And The Third World: The Political Economy Of East-south Relations (1989)
• Service, Robert. Comrades!: A history of world communism (2007).
• Service, Robert. Stalin: A Biography (2004) online
• Service, Robert. A history of Twentieth-century Russia (1997) online
• Taubman, William. Khrushchev: The Man and His Era (2004), Pulitzer Prize; online
• Taubman, William. Gorbachev: His Life and Times (2017).
• Taubman, William. Stalin's American Policy: From Entente to Détente to Cold War (W W Norton & Company, 1982) excerpt
• Ulam, Adam B. Expansion and Coexistence: Soviet Foreign Policy, 1917–1973, 2nd ed. (1974), a standard scholarly history online
• Ulam, Adam B. Dangerous relations: the Soviet Union in world politics, 1970–1982 (Oxford UP, 1984). online
• Ulam, Adam B. The Rivals: America and Russia Since World War II (1971) Current survey by an expert, but did not have access to the important documents opened after 1989. online
• Ulam, Adam B. Stalin (1973), an older scholarly biography; oonline
• Vasiliev, Alexey. Russia's Middle East Policy: From Lenin to Putin (Routledge, 2018).
• Weiner, Tim. The Folly and the Glory: America, Russia, and Political Warfare 1945–2020 (2020); Pulitzer Prize excerpt
• Zubok, Vladislav M. A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev (2007) excerpt and text search

Historiography

• Johnston, Robert H., ed. Soviet Foreign Policy 1918–1945: A Guide to Research and Research Materials (2nd ed. Scholarly Resources, 1991) 236 pp online
• Resnick, Evan N. "Hang Together or Hang Separately? Evaluating Rival Theories of Wartime Alliance Cohesion." Security Studies 22.4 (2013): 672–706. On World War II
• Sakwa, Richard. " The Soviet collapse: Contradictions and neo-modernisation" Journal of Eurasian Studies 4 (2013) 65–77 online
• Timberlake, Charles E. "Russian American Contacts, 1917–1937" Pacific Northwest Quarterly 61.4 (1970): 217–221.
• Ulam, Adam B. Understanding the Cold War: a historian's personal reflections (2nd ed 2002). excerpt

Primary sources

• Butler, Susan. My Dear Mr. Stalin: The Complete Correspondence of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph V. Stalin (Yale UP, 2015).
• Degras, Jane T. The Communist International, 1919–43 (3 Vols. 1956); documents; online vol 1 1919–22; vol 2 1923–28 (PDF).
• Degras, Jane Tabrisky. ed. Soviet documents on foreign policy (1978).
• Eudin, Xenia Joukoff, and Harold Henry Fisher, eds. Soviet Russia and the West, 1920–1927: A Documentary Survey (Stanford University Press, 1957) online
• Eudin, Xenia Joukoff; North, Robert Carver, eds. Soviet Russia and the East, 1920–1927; a documentary survey (Stanford University Press, 1957) online
• Goldwin, Robert A., Gerald Stourzh, Marvin Zetterbaum, eds. Readings in Russian Foreign Policy (1959) 800pp; long essays from primary and secondary sources
• Gruber, Helmut. International Communism in the Era of Lenin: A Documentary History (Cornell University Press, 1967)
• Khrushchev, Nikita. Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev, edited by his son Sergei N. Khrushchev Volume 3: Statesman, 1953–1964 (2007), 1176pp contents
• Maisky, Ivan. The Maisky Diaries: The Wartime Revelations of Stalin's Ambassador in London edited by Gabriel Gorodetsky, (Yale UP, 2016); highly revealing commentary 1934–43; excerpts; abridged from 3 volume Yale edition; online review
• Molotov, V.M. Molotov Remembers: Inside Kremlin Politics ed. by Felix Chuev and Albert Resis (2007)

This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. Country Studies. Federal Research Division.

• Source: Soviet Union

External links

• The Kremlin's Envoy, Who Rejected the Iranian Revolution
• The CWIHP at the Wilson Center for Scholars: Collection of Primary Documents Dealing with Soviet Foreign Policy Archived 1 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine